Childhood Jutsu
by Evil Little Angel
Summary: After an argument with his siblings, Gaara runs away from home and is soon stripped of his usual defences and must change not only the way he fights, but his entire persona.
1. Hell Hath No Fury Like A Psycho Scorned

Note: I may or may not get over the fact that I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. But regardless, I do not own it.

Chapter One: Hell Hath No Fury Like a Psycho Scorned

Wind whipped through the rooms of the tiny hut, carrying sand with them. It blasted the tiny home; nearly ripping the cloth door flaps free and scattered possessions everywhere. Without warning, Gaara burst through the entrance. His eyes were wide and his nostrils flared violently. In a flurry of sand, he stormed to the back of the hut and flopped down on his small futon. Slowly the sandstorm died down and all that was left was the sound of his heavy breathing.

Outside Gaara's hut stood a furious Kankuro. Beads of sweat ran through his purple face paint and smudged it, but he took no notice. He simply stared angrily at Gaara's front door flap. Finally, when he though he could take no more, he turned and stomped away. He didn't know where he was going, so long as Gaara was not there.

Kankuro took off down the street, past his own house – he did not want to go home. Then on to Temari's house. He stopped. Temari had also grown up with their volatile little brother; she would know how he was feeling.

Kankuro didn't stop to tug on the doorbell rope, but threw back the door flap and let himself in. The three siblings had placed protections on their homes when they moved in, and no one but those three could enter the door flaps of any of the huts uninvited. However, they lived on the outskirts of the Sand Village, and few ever ventured out there.

Temari heard someone enter the house.

"Gaara?" she called from her small kitchen "Or is that Kankuro?"

Kankuro didn't answer, but marched into the kitchen and flopped down on the nearest chair. Temari looked over from where she had been washing up the remains of her lunch.

"Hey, what's the matter with you?" she demanded.

"Ah, it's Gaara." He sighed.

"What's the little freak done this time?"

"Is it impossible for him to control himself? He nearly let his demon loose on a group of Jonin who were talking about him. You'd think he'd be used to it by now…"

Temari chuckled, "Yeah, that sounds just like him. C'mon Kankuro, let it go. I know it's not easy being the brother of a psychopath, but it can't be easy for him either."

"I dunno. And why are you taking his side?"

"Lighten up, Kankuro, I'm not taking anyone's side. You need to relax."

"And how am I supposed to do that?"

"Let's go into the village tonight. Go to a local restaurant or a bar or something."

"A bar sounds good. I can't take much more of this."

So the two headed out to the downtown parts of the village, opting to leave their deranged little brother in his home to cool down. He was too much a of a liability to take out for a night on the town, and the thought of Gaara drinking any sort of alcohol was enough to make them shudder.

The pair was not planning on staying out too late, especially as Gaara never seemed to sleep and leaving him out all night with no one around if something got out of hand was unwise. But one thing led to another and eventually Kankuro found himself stone drunk and Temari herself was a little tipsy. By the time they had staggered home, Gaara was outside on the roof of his hut, staring up at the moon. He heard them approach and leapt off his perch with surprising grace.

"Where….. have you……. been?" he growled.

"Geez, Gaara, keep it down, would'cha?" Kankuro protested. Temari giggled. Gaara's breath began to make a rattling noise.

"What…. have you…. done?" Gaara snarled. Gaara, being feared and despised by nearly everybody, had never been exposed to alcohol or anyone under its effects, and being socially inept, he did not see the swagger in his brother's step or the harshness of his sister's laughter.

"Hey, little psycho, just chill, would'cha?" Kankuro drawled. Temari giggled harder. The cork fell out of Gaara's gourd and a small stream of sand cascaded to his feet. Ordinarily, anyone who knew Gaara would have taken this as a warning sign but Temari and Kankuro were in no state to think reasonably.

"Psycho…" came the angry response from Gaara's lowered head. His breathing was louder than ever, nearly deafening in the otherwise silence, "Is that what I am to you?"

Kankuro and Temari didn't answer, they only laughed. This was not the response Gaara was looking for. With quiet fury, the sand around his feet rose up and began to spiral around his body. At this point, anyone who could get close to Gaara without being murdered should have been attempting to calm him down, but in their drunkenness, this did not occur to Kankuro or Temari. Finally, Kankuro opened his mouth to speak.

"You're crazy, Gaara! Little freak…." He burbled stupidly, and he began to launch into a hazy monologue of all the things he did not like about Gaara. Stories of his secret fear of Gaara's demon, recounts of the things their father had told them of Gaara, the fear they had seen in the villagers and fellow academy student's eyes and his resentment of Gaara's constant intent to kill tumbled out, ending with an accusation that Gaara had never loved anyone in his entire life. Had he been sober and not so angry, he never would have said any of those things; he didn't really mean them. But he had let his anger get the better of him. Temari continued to giggle between hiccups. Gaara's sand rose up into a wall behind him, a sure sign that he was about to explode. But, intoxicated as they were, the other two siblings took no notice.

Then suddenly Gaara's sand surged forward. At the same second, Kankuro slung Karasu off his back and Temari snapped open her fan. The three stopped and stared at each other. Though Gaara was the most powerful, he could not defeat his brother and sister together.

His sand recoiled and retreated back into his gourd. Without another word, he turned and walked off.

Ordinarily, this event would have been a crisis, but all Kankuro and Temari could think about was getting back to their own homes and going to sleep. They didn't even consider what Gaara might be up to.

Gaara stormed past his house, cursing his brother and sister. How dare they drop their guard and arrive home in this state! How dare they rally against him! Though he had become accustomed to the villager's remarks and whispered conversations, he did not expect them from his own siblings. What had driven them to strike out from their fear and stand up against him? And what enraged him the most was that he was not yet strong enough to defeat them both.

All the events of the day had compounded in his head until Gaara just couldn't take it anymore. For the first time in his life, he would not kill his problems. He would run away from them.


	2. Desert Bound Demon

Note: I have not yet recovered from the realization that I do not own Naruto. But I still don't own it.

Chapter Two: Desert-Bound Demon

Gaara headed off into the desert, not knowing where he was going or really what he was running from. With nothing but the clothes he was wearing and the gourd strapped to his back, anyone would say he had no chance of survival. But Gaara was not like other people. In fact, some would argue that he was not a person at all.

By now, the first rays of dawn were beginning to appear over the horizon. Gaara could not wait until the sun was directly overhead to find shelter. But as he trudged through the vast expanse of barren desert, it soon became obvious that the flat landscape was not going to offer much help. Resigning himself to using his chakra, Gaara drew his sand out of his gourd and gathered it around himself, hardening it's layers with his chakra until he had created a sort of sand shelter that completely shielded him from the sun's rays. In here Gaara would be safe, and could rest and plan his next move.

Miles away from where Gaara had set up his shelter, a figure peered out from an underground cavern. Through the haze of heat, this person could make out an unnatural form sitting in the desert landscape. The figure retreated back into its cave, chuckling ominously to itself.

Gaara did not venture out from his sand shelter until dusk had fallen. Once again, he set off aimlessly into the desert, simply going in the opposite direction of his village. Had he been a normal person, with normal social capacities, he might have wondered why neither Kankuro nor Temari had come looking for him. But alas, Gaara had no understanding of the concepts of love or loyalty, and he could not imagine that anyone else could feel these things.

As it was, Temari was just waking up. She tumbled out of bed with a pounding headache and stumbled to her kitchen for a glass of water. She took a sip, and wondered how Kankuro must be feeling.

As it was, Kankuro was not doing well at all. He stumbled out of bed with a massive migraine, nearly blind because of it. Swearing profusely, he threw himself out of bed, lost his footing, and crashed to the floor. Hearing his bellow of pain, Temari rushed from her own little hut into his, rubbing her own aching head. Seeing her brother lying on the ground, she immediately set to work.

"You're heavy!" she grunted as she tried to heave him back onto his bed.

"Ow…. not so loud…." He complained.

Temari rolled her eyes, but said nothing. Leaving his groaning and complaining mass where it lay, she ducked into the kitchen to bring him something to relieve the pain. Before long, he was medicated and sound asleep. Once again, Temari became aware of her own fatigue, and decided a nap couldn't hurt. She was asleep before she had even settled down on the couch.

At the same time Temari and Kankuro were sleeping off a hangover, Gaara was creeping silently through a vast expanse of sandy desert. Nearly invisible in the darkness, he was less cautious than usual. No one knew where he was, and it was the dead of night; all was still. Or so he thought.

Closer now than before, the unknown figure was trailing the runaway ninja, not too close, but steadily gaining ground. If Gaara was stealthy, than this person was practically a shadow. Not even footprints remained to mark that anyone had ever been there.

By the time dawn was breaking, Kankuro and Temari were once again waking up. This time the pain had gone, and the two were clear-headed, save for being slightly groggy. Temari shuffled into Kankuro's cramped kitchen to start to make breakfast. Kankuro simply stumbled to his table and sat down blearily, rubbing his eyes. Temari noted that it was the longest time he had ever gone without purple face paint.

"Man, that was some night last night." He yawned. Temari threw the calendar a quick glance.

"I think it was two nights ago…" she corrected.

"Whatever."

"Hmm." Temari replied. There was a pause.

"What even happened when we got home?" Kankuro grinned sheepishly "I don't remember."

Temari sighed, her face drawn up with concentration, "Uh, let's see…well, we had a few drinks…and we left late…. and we got home…" she trailed off.

"And went to bed." Kankuro supplied. Temari looked sceptical.

"No, there was something else. We…. we ran into…" she stopped. Kankuro and Temari exchanged a look of horror.

"GAARA!" They shrieked in unison. The two bolted from the table, all thought of breakfast forgotten.

"What could have happened that night? What could be have said?" Kankuro muttered to himself anxiously. Their fear escalated in the split second it took them to race to the little hut and burst in the front door. When they searched each of the tiny rooms and did not find Gaara, panic set in.

"Where could he be?" Temari cried. There was a definite edge of hysteria to her voice.

"Calm down." Kankuro replied, but he was fighting to keep his voice steady. Temari bit her lip.

"Kankuro, he's run away. We said something to upset him and he left." Temari said, choking back tears. Kankuro swore.

"You don't know that." He said with a hopeful sigh.

"Where else could he be? He doesn't train, he doesn't have any friends, and he would never visit Father. He must have run off." Temari snapped. Kankuro gave a resigned sigh.

"Let's go bring him back," he murmured ", before he hurts someone."

In a frenzy, the two siblings fled to their own homes, grabbing every bit of survival gear they could think of and rushed back to Gaara's home, as if to confirm he was not there. Temari, now heavily laden with bags and equipment, took one last look around Gaara's bedroom. In the corner lay one forgotten, worn leather backpack. Without thinking, Temari scooped it up and added it to her own things.

Both Temari and Kankuro had seen the backpack before. It had belonged to their youngest brother since he was a small child. In fact, it was practically the only thing that remained of Gaara's from his time with Yashamaru. No matter where the siblings were, Gaara had the backpack with him. He didn't carry it around, but they would always see it tucked beneath his bed, or piled with his clothes. Neither Kankuro nor Temari had ever opened it, but it seemed important to Gaara. Even Kankuro said nothing when he saw Temari stash it away with her things.

"Well, I guess…." Kankuro started.

"Let's go!" Temari interrupted. With a sudden whoop, they took off out the front door to find their little brother.

A/N Well, there's the second chapter done. This may turn into a very long story. Or not. We shall see.

**Special thanks to the one person who's reviewed this so far! I might not have added another chapter otherwise. To everyone else reading this: REVIEW! Please…?**


	3. A New Kind Of Monster

**Note: The shock of not owning Naruto has yet to wear off. But no amount of shock will change the fact that I don't own it. **

Chapter Three: A New Kind of Monster

By the time Gaara woke up the next morning, it was practically too late. As his sand recoiled and wound itself back into its gourd, someone else was winding up the cord of a pair of binoculars. The flurry of sand against the desert horizon was enough to show the hunter his target. The mysterious figure smiled and thanked his good fortune. Not only was his prey alone and unaware, but he had even been so kind as to come to him and spare him a trip.

Miles away from Gaara and his pursuer, two more figures were racing across the sand. Kankuro and Temari were short of breath, and their hearts were racing, but neither of them took any notice.

"How do we even know where to find him?" Kankuro panted.

"We don't." snapped Temari

Kankuro said nothing. He knew better than to argue with his sister when she was in this sort of mood.

Gaara scanned the desert landscape, trying to get his bearings. Noting the position of the sunrise, he turned himself and began to walk toward it, to the east and away from his home. He was not sure why he was doing this. He could not stay angry with his siblings, for if he stayed angry with them he would try to kill them. And they knew his techniques too well to allow him to do that. Besides, without them, he would not have a team, and he would have to be grouped with second-rate amateurs to complete missions. That would never do.

Gaara was so immersed in his thoughts that he nearly didn't notice a strange black shadow had dropped down in front of him. It wasn't until he had nearly collided with the stranger that he looked up. Orange eyes looked back at him.

"Hello Gaara," drawled a deep gravelly voice "My name is Keshigomu. I've been watching you. And you're coming with me."

Gaara did not reply instantly, but merely sneered.

"Keshigomu?" he grinned "Eraser?"

Keshigomu scowled at this mockery of his name. For a moment it looked like he was going to shout at Gaara, but his expression cleared.

"Yes, Eraser. It's what I do. I erase things."

Gaara shifted, and it was obvious that he had raised his guard. The cork of his gourd started to twitch as a thin stream of sand tried to escape. Keshigomu noted this and gave a soft chuckle.

"Going to defend yourself with a giant fruit full of sand, are you? I'm afraid that won't do you much good. I'm not that……. materialistic."

Anger flared in Gaara's eyes. The cork of his gourd gently popped out and rolled to his feet, There was a pause. Then every grain of sand in Gaara's control flew at Keshigomu with immeasurable force.

Kankuro and Temari were still skimming the sands, in desperate search of their brother. The two travelled in silence. Neither wanted to be the brunt of the other's frustration. Kankuro was opening his mouth to finally break the awkward silence, but he was interrupted. A deafening noise rang across the dunes. It knocked Temari and Kankuro down in mid-leap and blew up clouds of sand that momentarily blotted the sun. Finally everything settled, and there was silence again.

Kankuro and Temari leaped from their layer of sand and exchanged a look of horror. Before either of them had had time to think they were bounding toward the direction of the sound as fast as their Chakra could take them.

Gaara was panting, and his eyes were flared wide in horror. If he had eyebrows, they would be contributing to this look of shock.

In from of Gaara stood an unharmed Keshigomu. No cuts, no bruises and no scrapes could be seen on the man. And Gaara's sand was nowhere to be found. Seeing his victim's obvious bewilderment, he began to laugh. This enraged Gaara once more. Gathering up his chakra, Gaara slowly raised up the sand from the desert around him. It was heavy and awkward. He not used to this sand, and it did not know him . Regardless, he flung it at Keshigomu with all of his strength.

Once again, Keshigomu stood unscathed and chortling before him. Gaara could feel his head spinning.

"Why….are you not….DEAD?" he growled. Once again he was met with that infuriating snicker.

"Don't you see, Gaara? You can't beat me. Now it's time to stop playing in the sand, little boy, and come with me." Keshigomu smirked. His retorts were as well-placed as anyone could have hoped. Once again, Gaara lost control of his already poor temper. Another wave of sand washed over Keshigomu.

Kankuro was tailing behind Temari when she stopped suddenly. Kankuro crashed into her and flipped over, cursing loudly. Instantly Temari slipped a forceful hand over his mouth. Before Kankuro could protest, she had yanked his head around so he faced what she was seeing.

In front of them stood Gaara. He was trembling and breathing heavily, and his hair was strewn about wildly. The cork to his gourd lay forgotten at his feet, and all around him was a pit that appeared to have been scooped from the sand. But as worn out and defeated as he looked, it was still their little brother.

With a protective urge, Kankuro tried to jump up and help Gaara. But before he could begin his rescue attempt, Temari's free hand pulled him even further down. With particular enthusiasm, she jerked his head further. Now Kankuro's eyes widened to nearly match Gaara's expression.

Standing only a few feet away from Gaara was a man. And not just any man. This man had strange, glowing orange eyes. He was clad in black from head to toe, with a black hood pulled over his head, and wisps of jet black and orange hair framing his cold face. This multicoloured hair fell onto a pale, bare shoulder. His skin was so white it barely seemed human. Jet black tattoos encircled one wrist and snaked back up the length of his arm until they disappeared into his sleeve.

In his hands he had no weapon or scroll. In fact, Kankuro realized with a sickening jolt, there was not even so much as a grain of sand on him. This worried the sand ninja indefinitely. It didn't take much to figure out what had happened. Obviously, he had found some way to deflect Gaara's attacks and forced Gaara to rely on the desert sand. But since when did Gaara _run out of sand?_

With a racing heart, Kankuro ducked further down and pulled Temari with him. Together they listened closely, but no noise came. The two exchanged a look. _They haven't seen us, _thought Temari, _there's hope._

All was still for a moment. And then;

"It's no use Gaara, you can defeat me." came a grating voice that was very unlike their brother's raspy one. "But maybe your siblings would like to watch you try."

In cold shock, Temari and Kankuro stood. Gaara looked their way, and for a moment Temari and Kankuro could have sworn that they saw a desperate, pleading expression there. Before they could be sure, his features had settled back into that familiar, hateful expression.

"You…." he gasped.

Then once again, all was still.

**A/N - And there's the third chapter. Hope you enjoyed it, and hope you like Keshigomu. Yes, his name really does translate to mean "eraser".**

**Quick thanks to everyone who reviewed this. It's nice to know people actually read it. Fourth chapter will be on the way…..**

**But reviews are still welcome. **


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